Sierra Journal

Matthes Crest - South to North Traverse

Wow man, Matthew Crest is one seriously fun climb. The standard south-to-north traverse starts out with a couple of 5.6-ish pitches followed by a long sustained knife-edge ridge, then ends with 5.7 pitch up a tower on the north end. Most people call this the end of the climb, though some parties continue past the north tower to finish off the whole crest. 

The approach is a real bear, though. My climbing partner, Patrick, and I did the whole thing in an exhausting  12 hour day. The trail begins at the Cathedral Lakes trailhead, goes past Cathedral Peak, up and over Cathedral Pass, then angles off-trail to the west where you head for an obvious notch in the south end of the crest - the start of the climb. 

Patrick led the first pitch. There were three other parties starting at the same time, so we moved climber's left to a non-standard starting spot. This proved to make route finding a little more difficult than it should be. We eventually got back on route and swung the second lead. This leads to the top of the ridge where the traverse begins.

We un-roped at this point and free-soloed the rest of the ridge, making a brief side-trip up to the South Tower, an unnecessary but very cool spot for a breather. We then descended to the notch below the North Tower, where we roped up. Patrick took the lead. this pitch begins with a tricky hand-traverse, then eases up for another 100 feet or so to the top of the tower. 

I left this part for the end of the post so hopefully nobody's reading this far. I got stuck at the hand traverse - a mere 15 feet of foothold-less climbing - with two parties looking on. How embarrassing. I gotta get back in the gym I guess. Sheesh. Anyway, Patrick rappelled off the North Tower and we descended from the notch and hiked out the 5 miles back to the truck.

Awesome day - but aaargghh, I now have to make the return trip just to knock down that 15 feet.

View Larger Map

Mount Whitney's Main Trail

I know, I know. I write a blog called Sierra Journal and I haven't yet climbed the classic of all Sierra classics? Somehow time and events have conspired against me when it comes to the great Mount Whitney. The Mountaineer's Route, East Face and East Buttress have long been on my tick-list, but somehow I just never got around to getting down there to do the deed. Until this last weekend, that is.

Being partnerless, my plan was to head over to the East Side to do some leisurely wilderness wandering, maybe scope out some climbs on my list, and maybe do some bouldering at the Buttermilks. On a whim I decided to see if I could get a last-minute permit for the Mountinaeer's Route on Whitney.

At 8 AM on Saturday, as they opened the door at the Eastern Sierra Interagency Visitor Center, there were 20-30 people waiting in line to try their luck. The park ranger guy came out, had us pick a number from a hat, then served us in that order. My number? I pulled a 2! Sweet. But there was nary an overnight permit for the North Fork (the trail that heads up to the Mountaineer's Route). But I was lucky enough to get the last overnight permit for the Main Trail. So I put on my peak-bagger hat and away I went.

This is a long, hot, dusty slog of a climb up to the highest point in the lower 48 states. I got moving around 10 am and got up to "Trail Camp" (about 6 miles in and around 4000 feet vertical from the trailhead) at 2 pm or so - just in time for a good afternoon cloud-burst. I happily took a little nap, listened to the raindrops fall on my tent fly and read the latest Eastside magazine (pretty good publication, btw).

Next day I was on my way at 6 am. The trail immediately goes straight up some 2000 feet via an endless set of murderous switchbacks. Then you cross through a saddle and onto the west side of the ridge where you traverse north for a couple of miles, pass by the backside of Keeler Needle, and make the final gentle ascent to the summit of Mt. Whitney.

There were maybe a dozen people on the summit. One group had just finished the entirety of the John Muir Trail (Whitney is the southern terminus). I'd love to tackle that someday. Where to get the time?!  

 

View Larger Map

Tenaya Peak's Northwest Buttress

Two thoughts on Tenaya Peak's Northwest Buttress:

1. GREAT climb for beginners out there who are looking to learn the ropes on multi-pitch alpine rock.

2. GREAT early-season climb for working out the winter bugs.

I met up with my climbing partner in the parking lot on the northeast side of Tenaya Lake at about 7:00am or so. We got to know each other a bit (having met and made plans online via a climbing club), sorted gear and headed up around 7:30.

The weather was looking awfully sketchy. It even started snowing on us at one point just below the crux pitches of the climb, which gave us pause. We contemplated a bit, then said, "Eh, screw it, let's go." So we did.

We simul-climbed (used a running belay) for the first several pitches, then swung the last three leads. The terrain down low is very tame, but a ton of fun. The whole climb is mostly clean, slabby granite. There was some snow to negotiate, but it wasn't too bad. We had to move to climber's right onto slightly more difficult terrain. It never got stiffer than 5.6, though.

The top two pitches are solid 5.5 with some fun lie-backs and stemming moves. There's a ton of room up there, though, so you could go any of a million ways.

The bummer? I forgot my camera in the car, so no pictures (except the one above, which I took from the car after the climb). This is a double-bummer, because I just bought a new SLR and was eager to try it out. Oh well. I have some good pictures in my head, I guess.

View Larger Map

Skiing Mt. Dana's Dana Couloir

Made a quick trip up to the east side over the weekend. Skied the ever-popular Dana Couloir (also a popular alpine ice climb in the late summer months). Slept Friday night at the turn-out just east of the Yosemite pay-gate at Tioga Pass. Got moving Saturday morning about 8:30am.

If you're a lollygagger like me, the climb takes about 4 hours. The snow is getting patchy on the west slope of the mountain, so I spent a lot of the climb boot-packing. Stopped along the way to peer into the Solstice Couloir with a group I met on the way up.

The top of Solstice was guarded by a sizeable cornice, part of which broke free and tumbled down the couloir as we watched. So...  we opted against it. We headed up to the summit, had some lunch, then stepped into the skis.

You can still ski directly off the summit. It was an overcast day and still pretty cool out, so I was worried that the snow would be too firm. But somehow it was just about perfect. Below the couloir it was pretty gloppy. And since the snow below the glacier had melted out quite a bit, the way out of the canyon was a real pain. Had to pop the skis on and off a dozen times to cross talus heaps.

Tons of fun, but if you're gonna go, go now!! Oh, and note to future self: don't ever again, under any circumstances, drive through Yosemite Valley on Memorial Day weekend. Like Manhattan rush hour down there.

Here's the crew checking out the Solstice Couloir:

You can just barely pick out two skiers making their way down the couloir in this photo:

My ugly mug:

View Larger Map

Ski Mountaineering Mt. Shasta's Avalanche Gulch

Just back from an awesome couple of days on Mt. Shasta. This was my third time on the mountain. The weather set up nicely for us (particularly for this time of year), but it was brutal hot mid-day at high camp.

We climbed the trade route, Avalanche Gulch, then skied the broad gully to skiers-left of the Trinity Chutes. It has an exciting mildly-corniced entrance and wide-open terrain where you can lay down turn after turn for a few thousand feet on your way back to high camp.

Most climbers and skiers do what we did, which is to climb to a high camp at Helen Lake (not really a lake, just a flat spot below Avalanche Gulch) then head for the summit with an alpine start the next day. But some choose to do the climb car-to-car.

As we were climbing I noticed a dude gaining on us fast. He had left the parking lot around the same time we left high camp. He then proceeded to cruise right past us and beat us to the summit. So he covered 7000 vertical feet in less time than we could cover 4000. Wow. And he was a really nice dude to boot - a telemarketer from Tahoe named Shane. 

We lingered on the summit for a while with Shane. No wind, mild temps. Felt like a picnic. Then we headed down on the skis. Conditions up top were bulletproof, mid-mountain were PERFECT, and down low were sloppy. Love that mountain!!

I may chime in with another video report, but I don't think I got very much good footage this time around. For now, check out a couple of photos below.

View Larger Map

Video: Spring Conditions on Castle Peak

Just another day in the backyard. Sun was shining and the snow was deep, soft and heavy. But a great time had by all...

Crystal Crag and North Peak's North Couloir

There seems to be some sort of stigma in the US attached to the idea of guided climbing. It must be something related to our collective sense of individualism (how's that for a conundrum?). Americans seem to think that hiring a guide is somehow a cop-out - like the climb doesn't "count" or something.   

I've never thought this way, and after spending three days in the Eastern Sierra over the weekend with a guide from the American Alpine Institute, I must say my feelings on the matter have only been confirmed.

I plan on hiring a guide for a weekend of climbing at least once a season going forward. Why? Mostly because I learn more in the span of a single day with a knowledgeable guide than I could learn in a year otherwise. It goes a long way to keeping your skill sharp. We all tend to get lazy and having a guide evaluate your techniques, anchors, rope skills and gear placements really helps you stay sharp. Plus, guides tend to be a ton of fun to climb with.

We climbed Crystal Crag via the north arete and North Peak via the north couloir. Both are moderate Sierra classics - and both very fun routes. We continued through the entire ridge on Crystal Crag and rapped off the far south end of the ridge. Then we did North Peak car to car - long day but awesome. See below for some cool shots:

View Larger Map

View Larger Map

Attacking the Eastern Sierra

I'm heading out tonight for an extended weekend in the Eastern Sierra. Not quite sure what's on the agenda, but I'm looking to knock a few more Sierra classics off the list. Alpine ice should be in killer shape right now, so I'm thinking North Couloir on North Peak or we may revisit the North Couloir on Mt. Gilbert.

Would also like to tackle a good long alpine rock climb - Mathes Crest maybe, North Arete on Matterhorn Peak maybe. We'll see. I'll check back in later this weekend with an update and hopefully some good photos.

The non-trip report

I had a hard time deciding on a title for this post. Runners up were (the last being my favorite):

- I Feel Like an Idiot
- Two Days of Scree Scrambling at 12,000 feet
- Summitpost approach descriptions suck

My climbing partner and I met in Bishop around 1:00 (he coming from LA, me from SF) and headed up to South Lake to tackle the North Couloir on Mt Gilbert. This is a classic Sierra alpine ice route (5.6, WI3) that's on most climbers' tick lists. We met at Starbucks, drove up to the trailhead, sorted gear and were on our way.

Now, the Summitpost page has this:

The approach is a fairly short (3 miles ?) hike from South lake via the Bishop Pass trail, the Treasure Lakes trail and cross country hiking up slabs and scree to campsites at the base on Mt. Gilbert. This can also be easily done as a day trip from South Lake.

So I kinda thought this would be a no-brainer. We were hiking along, having a good old time, and accidentally went all the way to Treasure Lakes. Found out later that we should have turned east off the trail shortly after the junction with the Treasure Lakes trail. By this time we were far to the south of where we should have been, but we keyed in on a couloir off in the distance that looked vaguely like our objective.

"That must be it," we both thought. Nope. We got up closer and found this (which is most definitely not the north couloir on Gilbert).

It was getting on in the evening, so we decided to bed down where we were. Over dinner we decided to hike the north the next day along a 9 or 10k contour. This turned out to be, as would be expected, a pain-in-the-ass scree scrambling adventure that took most of the morning. I finally said "Screw it, lets head back and chalk it up to a learning experience."  My partner wasn't so easily placated, so he  climbed another hour to crest the next ridge and (Eureka!) there it was - at least another hour away.

It was too late to get to the route, climb it, descend and get back to the car by a reasonable time. And since I had a 6 hour drive back to SF, and I was dead tired, we turned around and headed back to the trailhead. Here's a shot above South Lake on the way back...

It was a moonless, cloudless night the night before, so I saw a ton of shooting stars at least. That's something.

Matterhorn Peak - East Couloir

I first read of Matterhorn Peak in Dharma Bums, a Kerouac novel that had quite an effect on my then-pubescent brain. In the novel, a character named Japhy Ryder (aka, Gary Snyder, one of my favorite poets) drags Kerouac and another friend up Matterhorn Peak. Kerouc collapses short of the summit while Japhy bounces from rock to rock all the way up the mountain. I was a midwestern kid at the time with no climbing experience or knowledge of the Sierra, but I knew I'd rather be Japhy than Kerouac.

Lack of a partner and limited knowledge of the area prompted me to climb the East Couloir (class 3) rather than the North Arete (5.7), which had been in my sights for some time. The Horse Creek trailhead is in Twin Lakes, 10 miles west of Bridgeport on hwy 395. I drove west from San Francisco through Yosemite on Tioga road and slept just east of the pass at a turn-out near Mount Dana. Woke the mext morning and drove north to Twin Lakes and got pancakes at the little diner at Mono Village.

I got going around 10 AM. The trail follows some switchbacks along a swiftly-moving Horse Creek, then up and over a ridge where you come a gorgeous glacial valley. There was still plenty of snow above 10,000 feet, so I put on the gaiters and climbed the snow slopes along a moraine on climber's left. I spent the night on top of the moraine in a nice little cove where someone had previously built a rock wall for shelter. I watched the sun go down as I ate dinner - a gorgeous sunset with an incredible glow caused by the forest fire haze in the atmosphere.

I woke the next morning, had some coffee and oatmeal, and set out for the East Couloir. The snow was soft and low-angle, so no need for crampons and axe. After the snow ran out about half way up the couloir, I began scrambling up the loose, pain-in-the-ass, one-step-forward-two-steps-back, scree.

When you get to the top of the couloir, you're practically there. Just angle right and start climbing up the ledges with firm rock and little exposure. On top you've got a fabulous view of Sawtooth Ridge and the rest of the East Sierra to the south. This is a great climb. Perfect couple of days for the solo adventurer. Would also make a great first alpine climb for the aspiring mountaineer.